BP to make hundreds of job cuts as oil price slumps

December 11, 20141,132 Views

BP will spend $1 billion on making hundreds of job cuts over the next year, in response to the continued slump in global oil prices, the Guardian reported.

“We have already been working very hard over these past 18 months or so to right-size our organisation as a result of completing more than $43 billion of divestments. We are clearly a more focused business now and, without diverting our attention from safety and reliability, our goal is to make BP even stronger and more competitive,” Bob Dudley, BP chief executive said.

“The simplification work we have already done is serving us well as we face the tougher external environment. We continue to seek opportunities to eliminate duplication and stop unnecessary activity that is not fully aligned with the group’s strategy,” he said.

Company insiders said the cuts will hit every area of the business, although one said they were “unlikely to affect people on the platforms.”

“It will be in the systems that support our operations and where BP has a significant corporate presence, so the US, the UK, Azerbaijan, Germany,” he said.

BP employs almost 84,000 people worldwide, including 15,000 in the UK.